Tan­za­nia to pick new leader

DAR ES SALAAM — Tan­za­ni­ans will pick a new pres­i­dent and par­lia­ment on Oct. 25, of­fi­cials said on Mon­day, in a na­tional elec­tion likely to be dom­i­nated by the rul­ing party de­spite ris­ing anger at poverty and cor­rup­tion.

Pres­i­dent Jakaya Kik­wete is due to step down from the helm of east Africa’s sec­ond­biggest econ­omy af­ter two terms — the limit set out in the con­sti­tu­tion.

Tan­za­nia’s main op­po­si­tion par­ties have promised to unite be­hind a sin­gle pres­i­den­tial can­di­date to re­place him.

But an­a­lysts have said that plan could be hob­bled by long-run­ning in-fight­ing over poli­cies and lead­er­ship, and the rul­ing Chama Cha Mapin­duzi (CCM) party would still likely win through, al­beit with a re­duced mar­gin.

Tan­za­nia has held a se­ries of rel­a­tively peace­ful elec­tions since the rein­tro­duc­tion of multi-party polls in 1995 — though po­lit­i­cal ten­sions are ris­ing in other parts of the con­ti­nent as long-run­ning lead­ers ap­proach term lim­its. — Reuters